Has anyone tried online check-in with Air Canada, is it easy to use and does it save time?

Question

I'd be glad to hear of any good or bad experiences with online check-in with any airline.

Answer 1

I use online checkin all the time and have used it for Air Canada, USAir, United and Delta in the last few weeks. Air Canada's is a little more work than United or USAir--- if you don't have an Air Canada frequent flier account you have to fill out a bunch of extra information, but it's still faster than checking in at the airport ticket desk. If your Air Canada flight takes you across a country border (like between the US and Canada) have your passport ready when you start online checkin--- all the airlines will ask your passport info when you check in online for an international flight but Air Canada's site will time out pretty quickly if you don't have that info already handy, and you'll have to start the process over again.

I prefer online checkin instead of the kiosks--- all of the airlines' kiosks can be fussy sometimes, and might not like the credit card you produce to start checking in for your site. There's no charge made to the credit card, they just need it for identification, but sometimes you'll be asked for even more info like flight number, if your credit card doesn't link back to your passenger record on the first try.

My only bad experience with online checkin was when the printer at the hotel I was staying in didn't work, and I couldn't actually print my boarding pass once I checked in, but that was solved easily by going to the airport kiosk and reprinting the boarding pass.

Answer 2

Yes and yes.

It's pretty much all the same. Some airlines can do more at the kiosk than others.